Passed by the Senate today, the Agriculture, Conservation, and Rural Enhancement Act of 2001 (S. 1731) provides an opportunity to protect one of our nation's most precious resources -- private forests.

Nearly a million acres of our nation's private forests are being lost to development each year. The most serious loss of forestland is occurring in the Southeast and the Pacific Northwest -- the two most productive and diverse forest regions in the United States. In addition to forest loss, areas of America's private forests the size of Yellowstone National Park are being broken up every year, degrading the quality of our forests and the conservation values they provide.

Land conservation efforts must address this loss and degradation of our private forests, which account for 60 percent (430 million acres) of our nation's forests and are home to millions of people and countless other creatures. Loss of private forests means more than a loss of timber and wood supply. Loss of private forests also means a loss of protection for rivers, lakes and streams, loss of habitat for fish and wildlife, and loss of scenic beauty and our nation's quality of life.

The Senate version of the Farm Bill includes a critical change to the existing Forest Legacy Program, created in the 1990 Farm Bill. The Forest Legacy Program provides funding for conservation easements and fee title acquisition on forestland threatened by development. A conservation easement is a voluntary agreement that permanently restricts specified activities on a piece of property, in order to protect conservation values, such as habitat or water quality. The conservation easement is granted by the property owner to a conservation organization or government agency. The restriction stays with the property regardless of the owner.

The Forest Legacy Program has been very successful to date, completing over 100 projects and protecting more than 200,000 acres. An amendment to the program is needed, however, to widen the acceptability of the program among its key constituents -- forest landowners. Currently, land trusts such as the Pacific Forest Trust play a number of important roles as partners with state agencies and the Forest Service, but cannot hold an easement purchased with federal Forest Legacy dollars. Responding to requests from many forest owners who would prefer to grant their easement to a nonprofit rather than a government entity, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) and others included an amendment in the Farm Bill to make this change.

The Senate bill also increases much-needed funding for ongoing conservation programs and adds several new initiatives that provide incentives to owners to manage their forests for multiple public benefits. An increase in funding for existing programs is long overdue, as more than half of interested landowners have been turned away due to lack of funds.

The social and market forces behind forest loss and fragmentation are powerful and deeply rooted. To compete with these forces, the rewards of conservation to private forest landowners need to grow in size and scope. It is essential, therefore, that we increase public investment in these programs because of the important contributions private forests make to our lives and society.

As the Farm Bill goes to the conference committee, adoption of the Senate version will go a long way toward protection of America's private forests.